Insights from molecular studies of wild bird populations

Understanding how ecology affects population genetics, and the role of phenotypic plasticity has become especially important with the increasing recognition that evolutionary changes in wild populations are much more rapid and extensive than previously thought. It is also vital for dealing with population management, and for the conservation of biodiversity in a rapidly changing world. Incorporating molecular data can provide important insights on the viability of a population, its ability to respond to selection and the forces driving evolutionary processes, which have direct consequences for its conservation. We examined phenotypic and genetic variation is several bird populations to explore evolutionary and ecological processes in these species. Sparrows populations show high levels of phenotypic divergence despite low genetic variation indicating local adaptation to environmental conditions on a relatively small geographic range, despite the presence of gene flow. The Common Myna is one of the most successful avian invaders in the world, posing threat to local biodiversity. Despite its relatively recent invasion to Israel (~25 years) it shows similar genetic variation to that of older invasive and native populations, suggesting that this may be an important feature in facilitating invasion success in the common myna. In addition, even recently invaded population exhibit morphological diversity suggesting local adaptation in the myna may be facilitated also by more rapid mechanisms such as phenotypic plasticity. These findings provide insights on the mechanisms of local adaptation and to how populations may respond to a rapid environmental change.